Cumulus
by DeltaNovember
Summary: Ruby takes Weiss up to the roof of the school building to relax and look at clouds after a hard day of class.


**Cumulus**

"R-Ruby, let go of my arm..."

Ruby had a solid grip on Weiss's wrist as she lead her through the halls of Beacon. "Just come on, Weiss. Trust me."

"Easier said than done." Weiss was led to one of the many stairwells and Ruby forced her to walk up the entire thing. They made it to the top floor, but the stairs kept going up until they ended at a door with "roof access" written across it. "Ruby, I don't think we're allowed up here."

"Oh, come on. If they really didn't want us coming up here they wouldn't make the locks so easy to pick." Ruby pulled out a few paperclips and started to work on the knob. Five seconds later the bolt shifted and Ruby opened the door.

The roof was completely empty except for a few fans and other hatches, along with a waist-high ledge running across the border. Ruby ran out and spun around before jogging over to the edge. "See, come here." She exclaimed.

Weiss approached the edge—from a distance—and looked out. She could see the entire city, the glass buildings sparkling in the sunlight. "W..wow, this is actually..."

"Awesome, right?" Ruby put a finger to her lips. "But this is my secret spot, so don't tell anybody okay?" Ruby backed away from the ledge to where Weiss was standing, and then flopped down onto her back. Weiss thought it must have hurt, but Ruby was smiling. "Lay with me, Weiss."

Weiss turned up her head. "On that filthy roof? My outfit is white, you know, it attracts dirt."

"Bah." Ruby waved her hand back and fourth. "Stop being such a worry-wort."

With a sigh, Weiss started to brush away some of the leaves and dirt with her feet before carefully sitting down. Ruby grabbed her shoulders and pulled her the rest of the way until they were both laying on their backs, looking at the sky.

There was silence as they both looked up at the clouds. It reminded Weiss of a fresh snowfall covering the entire sky. There was a pattern of waves and patches of puffy clouds stretching across her entire field of view.

"It's beautiful," Weiss said softly.

"I thought you'd like them." Ruby pointed her hand up towards the sky. "Look, doesn't that kind of look like a cat?"

Weiss tried to make out what Ruby was pointing at, but couldn't really see it. "Not really. The sky looks more like a patchwork, it's hard to make out shapes..."

"Yeah, you're right." Ruby said and lowered her hand. "Altocumulus clouds are stunning in their own way, though."

"Alto...how do you know what type they are?"

Ruby shrugged. "I just know it."

The clouds slowly drifted across the sky, illuminated by the low sun. It was hard to tell if they were really moving or not without a reference, but the pattern subtly shifted as time went on. The girls started to lose track of time.

Weiss could hear ambient noises coming from below. There was the occasional shout from someone on the ground, or the chirping of birds. But for the most part it was calm and quiet.

"So, how's your grades?" Ruby asked.

"Straight A's of course. Would you expect anything different from the daughter of the Schnee Dust Company?"

Ruby laughed softly.

"What about you?" Weiss asked.

"Dunno, I'm not really keeping track." Ruby scratched the side of her head. "Well, I mean, I'm playing a bit of catch-up on some fundamentals. I have a weird situation."

"Ah, I forgot how much younger you are than the rest of us."

"Mmhmm" Ruby stared up at the clouds. "Ooh, I spy a sword in the null space of the clouds," she said and pointed. Weiss followed her finger and saw it too.

A minute later a flock of birds flew across the sky, and both Ruby and Weiss watched them. They turned their heads to the side as the flock settled into a tall tree on the edge of campus.

"I have snacks," Ruby said. "Want some snacks?"

She sat up and reached into her bag. First she pulled out some store-bought sandwiches, and then two cans of soda.

"How low class."

"Do you want any or not?"

Weiss sighed, but reached out for a sandwich and soda. Ruby grinned and handed them over. They popped their cans at the same time and drank.

They stood up and walked over near the edge of the building to eat, using the ledge as a table. The view was way better and luckily neither of them were afraid of heights. Both of them had the skills to recover safely even if they did fall off.

Weiss took a bite of the sandwich and looked out at the city. "I never do this," she said after swallowing. "Just...sit and do nothing."

Ruby was too busy downing her entire can of soda to respond. She slammed the empty can down on the ledge. "Ahh." Weiss chuckled.

A minute or two after they finished their meals, Ruby trotted back over to her bag and pulled out a camera. It was large and Weiss thought it looked like something a professional might use. One of those cameras with interchangeable lenses and the like.

Weiss was afraid Ruby would ask to take their picture together or something embarrassing like that, but she didn't. Instead she just laid back down and pointed her camera straight up at the sky.

_Click click._

_Click click._

_Click click._

Weiss walked over and sat next to Ruby as she fiddled with one of the dials on her camera and took another few photos.

"You take pictures of the clouds?"

"Yup," Ruby said as she snapped another. "I think they're neat, although it's hard to get good pictures of the sky. Really gotta pay attention to the sun and stuff."

Eventually Ruby put the camera away.

"Hey Weiss, we're partners right?"

"I guess. You're my team leader."

Ruby frowned. "But above that, we're _partners. _We have a team of four to be sure, but when push comes to shove _you _are my partner. Not Yang and not Blake. _You._" Ruby turned her head to meet Weiss's eyes. "We can confide in each other, right? Support each other."

"Are you trying to get me to open up?" Weiss sighed and averted her gaze. "Because I don't appreciate being—"

"Blake makes me nervous," Ruby interrupted.

Weiss didn't respond right away, and although she couldn't hear it Ruby's heart was pounding from the silence. "How so?" She eventually asked.

"It's all of this White Fang stuff," Ruby confessed. "I didn't really—I mean, when I was allowed to come to Beacon early I...well, I just wanted to take classes and stuff. Maybe go out on the occasional adventure to kill a monster with some friends. Like our first day. I didn't sign up for fighting terrorist organizations. Fighting other_ people._"

"Being a huntress is more than just slaying monsters," Weiss said. "We're an elite force for eliminating highly dangerous targets. Usually those are Grimm. Not always."

Ruby sighed. "I don't like it."

"If this is how you feel, why on Earth did you act so energetic about helping Blake out?"

"She's on my team."

Apparently that was reason enough for Ruby, which Weiss couldn't believe. Ruby had said it so casually, but Weiss felt like someone dropped a bomb on her. It was...selfless. Weiss knew how _she_ would react in that situation, she would have told Blake to get over her past and stop causing trouble for the group.

But Ruby made Blake's trouble the group's trouble, made their team a _team. _Weiss started to understand just a bit better why Ozpin appointed Ruby as the leader.

"Don't worry." Weiss finally said, and laid down.

"How can you say that? One of my _own teammates _makes me nervous!"

The sun lowered in the sky, and the colors of the clouds shifted. It was almost sunset, which meant they should really be getting back to their dorms soon. Weiss looked up at the clouds' new colors.

"It's because you know those are altocumulus clouds," Weiss said.

Ruby sat up. "What?"

"You told me your secret, so I guess it's only fair if I tell you one of mine, right?" Ruby slowly nodded, and Weiss turned to meet her eyes. "Well, the truth is...I'm not talented."

"Excuse me?" Ruby was incredulous. "You have straight A's and are one of the best fighters in Beacon."

Weiss smiled. "Oh, I'm not saying I'm not _good. _But it's not because I'm talented, it's because I had to work at it. I spent hours each day as a kid studying, and even longer training. Practicing. Honing my skill. I didn't go out and play like the others. I brought textbooks to my meals and woke up early to exercise. I wasn't born exceptional, but because of my lineage I _have _to be.

"But you're different than that," Weiss continued. "You're talented. You retain knowledge like the names of clouds without even remembering where you learned it. You make connections subconsciously, and the question of what to do comes naturally to you. Am I in the ballpark here?"

Ruby nodded.

"Exactly. Which is why you're going to do great. You can sense what needs to be done to keep our team together and effective."

Ruby looked down in her lap. "Th..thanks, Weiss...heheh, I didn't know you liked me as your leader~"

Weiss's face flushed red and pulled herself to her feet. "Hmph!" She held out one of her hands, her other on her hip. "We're partners, right?"

"Yep," Ruby exclaimed as she grabbed Weiss's hand. Weiss pulled Ruby to her feet, and they both brushed some of the dirt off their clothing.

They held hands as they walked back to the stairs, Weiss smiling as she took one last look at the sky.

"Maybe we'll see cumulus clouds tomorrow."


End file.
